The son and daughter of a Pennsylvania woman allegedly killed by a runaway inmate filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county jail and its warden, alleging the escape and slaying were preventable if not for shoddy jail policies.

Todd and Tara Long, of Kittanning, filed the federal lawsuit Wednesday against the Armstrong County jail and warden David Hogue. Hogue has already submitted his resignation effective Nov. 12.

The lawsuit cites two reports by District Attorney Scott Andreassi and CSI Corporate Security and Investigations, a consultant the county paid $15,000 to study the July 30 escape of Robert Crissman, 38.

Both studies found numerous security shortcomings at the jail, and agreed Crissman -- a heroin addict -- should not have been approved for the trustee duty that allowed him to leave the jail unsupervised that morning to retrieve inmate breakfast trays from a food-delivery van.

"The investigation and review of the events concerning this tragedy lead to one very stark and unequivocal conclusion, and that is the escape of Robert Crissman and Tammy Long's murder were preventable," George Kontos, attorney for the Longs said Thursday.

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A guard monitoring 120 security cameras from a centralized control room was the only person watching Crissman when he ran away into woods that border the prison in Rayburn Township, about 40 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, Kontos said.

Even then, it took prison officials 15 minutes to report the escape to 911 dispatchers, the lawsuit said.

By then, Crissman was already at the home of a casual friend, Terry Slagle, who lived with the plaintiffs' 55-year-old mother, Tammy Long, within sight of the jail, Kontos said.

Slagle and Long didn't know Crissman was in jail -- or that there was an escape -- "as no siren or other warning had yet been communicated to the residents living near the jail," the lawsuit said.

When Slagle left for work around 7:20 a.m., Long agreed to give Crissman a ride to Kittanning, but was instead beaten and strangled by him, the lawsuit and previously filed criminal complaints stated. Slagle found Long's body when he returned that afternoon. Crissman wasn't arrested until the next morning, after a high-speed car chase.

Hogue could not immediately be reached for comment through his Facebook page, and his phone numbers have been disconnected.

John Bechtol, the solicitor for the county prison board, said only, "We're going to raise the appropriate defenses in this case."

Crissman's defense attorney, Charles Pascal, couldn't immediately be reached. Though he's previously declined comment on Crissman's criminal charges, Pascal has agreed with the reports that found security problems at the jail and, in particular, its screening of Crissman for trustee duty.

The consultant and the district attorney both determined Crissman wasn't properly detoxed and shouldn't have been a trustee, even though he was friendly and cooperative with guards from past incarcerations, and didn't have a violent criminal record.

"He was going through the throes of heroin withdrawal," Kontos said. "This was clear to anyone who was paying attention."

Crissman is jailed in another county awaiting trial in Long's death.

Long's daughter, Tara, 33, issued a brief statement. Her mother was one of 11 children and a grandmother of five - three children by Tara and two by Todd, 30.

"By filing this lawsuit we seek to honor her memory in a way that will hopefully bring something positive out of such a terrible and tragic event," Long said.